The year is 1999. Faith remembers standing there, in her Sunnydale apartment, feeling stupid. Wearing a pretty pink dress – the first time she can even recall wearing a dress – she stands there, as Mayor Richard Wilkins III, former father-figure and Old-One-Wannabe talks, telling her that he has one more thing for her to do. He tells her off for being so formal – he can call her Richard. In a rare moment of what appears to be genuine emotion, he tells her that his dear wife Edna, bless her soul, would have loved Faith like the daughter they never had. Faith beams in response. No one has ever said anything like that to her.

Of course, evil scumbag that he was, his very next sentence was how to get the blood of innocent people out of her clothes, but still, for her, the idea of what he said, the feeling: that was important.

Even if he was a black hat. It’s hard for her to look back at that summer in Sunnydale, where, for the first time, Faith Lehane, knew what being loved felt like.

Now. It’s 2005. Faith is still on the ground, by the edge of the pool, Genevieve Savidge wielding an axe that is about to give Faith a headache. Gigi is raging: she’s been betrayed. She let ‘Hope’ into her life, into her ‘house’ and – the worst – into her tub! Roden cheers her on. Faith tells her that it may have been fake, but the stuff that mattered, the emotion stuff, understanding each other’s loneliness – that wasn’t fake. That was real.

Genevieve is not so easily swayed, and strikes her with the handle of the axe. “You’re not even English are you?” she queries, hate dripping from her voice. “Where is that horrid accent from anyway? New York?”

That does it. Now that insult hurt. Faith rallies her strength in indignant rage and hits Gigi, sending her flying from the balcony they’re on and through the roof of a greenhouse below. Shattered glass everywhere, Gigi gets up and reaches for her axe, as Faith joins her in the ruined garden. “For the record, I’m a Boston girl.”

Gigi doesn’t care – Faith is beneath her, regardless. She swings her axe, which embeds itself in a tree as Faith leaps up and lands back on the weapon, striking Gigi from her higher position with a swift kick. Genevieve is raging now: she tells Faith that she’s even less entitled to the power they wield than Buffy was. She should have listened to Roden.

Faith once again tells her that she knows men like Roden. He’ll be the death of her, she warns. Genevieve is too angry to listen, and besides, she says, as she prepares to attack Faith again: he’s her best friend. Something she doubts Faith has ever had.

Outside the Savidge estate, still with Trafalgar trying to break the barrier, Giles‘ phone starts ringing. As Trafalgar gives up on breaking the field, Giles looks down at his cell: it’s Willow. He answers, immediately thinking it wonderfully ironic that she should phone as he’s needing some magical aid, but it’s not Willow’s sweet voice he hears on the other end; it’s a raging-mad Buffy. “Shut up, Giles,” she uncharacteristically tells him. “Her. You’re working with her and you didn’t even tell me?”

Giles stammers over the line, pointing out that he was intending to get in touch regarding Faith, but Buffy interrupts him again. “Your Femme Nikita just tried to stuff me in a pool drain.”

Giles stops. “What?” he asks, unsure of whether he’s heard his former Slayer correctly. Buffy explains her recent teleport to the Savidge Mansion and Giles asks to speak to Willow immediately. He doesn’t offer any more information. She’s hurt when he tells her that he doesn’t want her involved in this one. She orders Willow to help Giles, hands her the phone and walks away. Xander asks if she needs alone time, but Buffy looks back, loneliness on her face: “What other kind is there?”

In the garden at the manse, Faith goes headlong into a rose bush. As Gigi continues to taunt and belittle her, Faith continues to rise, asking where her pal Roden is now. Gigi says that Roden trusts her and, besides, she can handle herself. She throws a pair of shears at Faith, which she manages to catch.

Faith bounces off the floor, kicking Gigi in her gut. “Maybe he trusts you. Maybe he don’t. But either way, part of you knows something ain’t right, cause you don’t deserve to be loved.” Faith is well aware that her words could also apply to herself. She watches as Genevieve goes flying, knocked backwards by Faith’s strike – and is impaled on her axe, still embedded in the tree from Gigi’s first blow.

Faith is horrified, racing to Genevieve, but it’s too late. As Faith says sorry, she realises that Genevieve is dead. Roden appears behind her, rather annoyed. “Hell,” he says. “Looks like I back the wrong fillie.”

Faith tells him to heal Gigi, but why should he bother, he states. She was just a dead end. Faith could be the one he’s looking for. Working with him, they could make Buffy disappear forever.

He looks at her, attempting to appeal to her fear and hatred of everything Buffy represents in her life. The book, he says, holding the Twilight tome, has told him how. He hands Faith the book.

She looks down at the book, not recognising the symbol. She tells Roden that she’s not much for reading, and swings the heavy volume straight into his face! He angrily powers up his magic, veins appearing on his face as the power gets darker. “Keep the book,” he tells her. “I already know how it ends.” He conjures a fist made out of rock from the ground and it snatches Faith. As it begins to crush her, Roden notices her smiling.

Before he can make another move, Giles comes up behind Roden, garden shears in his hands. He strikes Rosen down and his rock golem dissolves, releasing Faith. As the warlock turns to Giles, anger and power in his black eyes, he fires a blast straight at the Watcher.

Faith calls his name and throws him the Twilight book. Giles recognises and recites a spell from it and stops. Nothing happens. Roden laughs at him – Did he really just try to contain him with his own magic force field? He controls his own power. He can break out of any field he’s trapped inside off.

Giles grins. “Yes. That’s why I put one inside you.” He says one more word, “Burst,” and Roden’s head does just that.

He looks ashamed of himself for ending a human life, but Faith places a steady hand on his shoulder. She tells him that it’s time to go.

The next morning, at Giles’ London apartment, Giles is armed with a present as Faith comes down the stairs: it’s a fake passport, so she can go where she likes. She says thank you, but she’s changed her mind: she has no intention of leaving, not just yet at least. Giles looks confused, but Faith shrugs. There will be other Gigi’s out there and, with the experience she’s had, maybe she can help those girls before it goes too far. Perhaps, for once, she can help other girls and help them walk back from their own darkness.

Giles is impressed. In fact, he wants to join her in her new mission. He and Buffy are not on speaking terms, he tells her. It appears that the two of them are on their own. But at least they’re not alone – they have each other.

Elsewhere, in a remote location, an United States army officer, Lieutenant Molter, exits her helicopter after it lands on a secluded buff. She steps forward, exposing her palm: it’s branded with the Twilight symbol. She asks if anyone’s there and then a voice comes from above her.

It’s a man, in a long black coat. Lots of black leather, shiny black boots and a leather mask over his face. He floats down from the air to talk to the soldier. She tells him he’s not going to be happy with the end result: Genevieve Savidge and Roden are dead.

The man looks at her. He tells her, in a deep, guttural voice, that Gigi and Roden are inconsequential – they were targets. Set the enemy against each other and let them fight it out. It makes their job easier. Molter looks at the masked figure, confused. Why does that matter, she questions, if Buffy is still out there? If she is still alive, then how does this help his grand plan and his overall victory?

The masked man looks out over the ocean surrounding them. “Let her have her day, Lieutenant,” he says, turning back to her.

His name is Twilight. And night will fall soon enough.